Chapter 32: Pride

As revealed to God’s Messenger Marshall Vian Summers on May 25, 1993 in Boulder, CO
1993年5月25日，在科罗拉多州博尔德(Boulder, CO)，向上帝的信使马歇尔・维安・萨默斯(Marshall Vian Summers)揭示

People have very mixed feelings about pride. On the one hand, they do not like the appearance of pride because it is arrogant and condescending. It makes others feel smaller or weaker or less capable. It has an insulting quality to it that you can immediately feel in others if they are exhibiting this characteristic. Yet, everyone likes to feel pride because it gives one a temporary sense of power, purpose and meaning. So, while it is unattractive in others, it has its own appeal for each person. But what is pride, what does it mean and how should it be viewed in order to gain a greater perspective in life?

人们对骄傲的感受非常复杂。一方面，他们不喜欢骄傲的外表，因为它是傲慢的、居高临下的。它让别人觉得自己更渺小、更弱小、更没有能力。它有一种侮辱性的品质，如果别人表现出这种特征，你可以立即感受到。然而，每个人都喜欢感到骄傲，因为它给人一种暂时的力量感、目的和意义。因此，虽然它在别人身上没有吸引力，但它对每个人都有自己的吸引力。但是，什么是骄傲，它意味着什么，应该如何看待它，以便在生活中获得更大的视野？

Simply said, pride is a compensation. It is something you seek to offset the pain of your own separation and uncertainty. It is a compensation to offset the grave discomfort that accompanies a feeling of inability, a lack of capacity, and so forth. It is something to offset a weakness and to cover it up. Pride cannot replace the weakness, but it provides an escape. If pride is a compensation, then it makes up for something that is lost.

简单地说，骄傲是一种补偿。它是你为了抵消自己的分离和不确定性的痛苦而寻求的东西。它是一种补偿，以抵消伴随着无能感、缺乏能力等的严重不适。它是用来抵消弱点和掩盖弱点的东西。骄傲不能取代弱点，但它提供了一种逃避。如果骄傲是一种补偿，那么它弥补了失去的东西。

To be proud of yourself and what you do seems absolutely normal. It even seems to be valuable, for it is thought that when people have pride in what they do, they tend to function more adequately, with greater conscientiousness and greater ability. But being aware of your attributes and feeling confident or satisfied with your creations is not the same as pride itself. You can have the experience of satisfaction in your own accomplishments and the value and excellence of your work, whatever it may be, without demonstrating arrogance, without being condescending to others and without the other forms of conceit that inevitably will turn against you.

为自己和自己的所作所为感到骄傲似乎是完全正常的。它甚至看起来很有价值，因为人们认为，当人们对自己的行为感到自豪时，他们往往会更充分地发挥作用，更加尽职尽责，能力也更强。但意识到自己的优点，并对自己的创造感到自信或满意，与骄傲本身并不相同。你可以对自己的成就、工作价值和卓越表现感到满意，无论它是什么，而不表现出傲慢，不对他人居高临下，也没有其他形式的自负，这些最终都会反过来伤害你。

Pride is a compensation. It is something you give yourself to make up for something that is lost. For practical purposes, let us say that pride is equivalent to self-importance. The idea of self-importance seems absolutely normal and justifiable as long as it does not become irritating to other people or extreme in its expression. But there is an inherent flaw with self-importance, a flaw which cannot be escaped and which will cast its destructive influence and impact upon everything you do and everything you conceive because self-importance is a compensation making up for something that is lost. It is a weak replacement, for what it replaces is the strength of Knowledge within you which has been lost.

骄傲是一种补偿。它是你给自己的东西，以弥补失去的东西。为了实际的目的，让我们说，骄傲相当于自负。只要不对其他人产生刺激，或者在表达上不极端，自负的想法似乎是完成正常和合理的。但是自负有一个内在的缺陷，这个缺陷是无法逃避的，它将对你所做的一切和你所设想的一切产生破坏性的影响和冲击，因为自负是对失去的东西的一种补偿。它是一种软弱的替代，因为它所替代的是你内心已经失去的内识的力量。

So, we can replace the word “pride” with the word “self-importance.” They are really the same. Self-importance works against the reclamation of Knowledge because it continues to assert an idea about yourself that is not consistent or compatible with life. It continues to separate you from life and to make you the central focus. It binds you to your own dilemmas and prevents your escape from them because it leads you to become self-absorbed. It is concentration on the personal mind to the exclusion of life itself, and because the personal mind is inherently flawed and incomplete, its flaws and incompletions will haunt you and dominate your attention. In order to offset this, there are all kinds of demonstrations and expressions of self-importance. This is manifest in every aspect of people’s behavior, in their concepts, in their beliefs, in their philosophies, and in their strong adherence to their own ideas and ideals. But underneath this myriad of expressions, there is self-importance. And the importance that is emphasized in this attitude is weak and inconsistent with life.

因此，我们可以用”骄傲”这个词代替”自我重要感”。它们其实是一样的。自负对内识的开垦不利，因为它继续主张一种关于你自己的想法，与生命不一致或不相容。它继续将你与生命分开，使你成为中心焦点。它把你捆绑在你自己的困境中，阻止你从困境中逃脱，因为它导致你变得自我陶醉。它是对个人心智的专注，而将生命本身排除在外，由于个人心智本质上是有缺陷和不完整的，它的缺陷和不完整将困扰着你，支配着你的注意力。为了抵消这一点，有各种各样的示范和表达自我重要性的行为。这表现在人们行为的方方面面，表现在他们的观念中，表现在他们的信仰中，表现在他们的哲学中，表现在他们对自己想法和理想的强烈坚持中。但在这无数的表达方式之下，有自我重要性的存在。而这种态度所强调的重要性是软弱的，与生命不一致的。

You are a part of life. You are an expression of life. To a certain degree, you are a unique expression, though do not take the idea of uniqueness too far. You are not the center of life. You are not the center of the universe. You do not have your own universe. You do not create your own universe. You merely interpret the universe that you share with all life. If you interpret life wisely, then you will be able to participate in it and join with it meaningfully. But if you interpret life according to a belief in self-importance, according to the need to assert yourself and to offset your own discomforts, then you will misinterpret life and you will attempt to use it to fortify your self-importance, which denies your access to life and makes your participation within it disassociating and destructive.

你是生命的一部分。你是生命的一种表达。在某种程度上，你是一种独特的表达，尽管不要把独特的想法看得太远。你不是生命的中心。你不是宇宙的中心。你没有自己的宇宙。你没有创造你自己的宇宙。你只是解释你与所有生命共享的宇宙。如果你明智地解释生命，那么你将能够参与其中，并有意义地与生命结合。但是，如果你根据对自我重要性的信念来解释生命，根据宣扬自己和抵消自己的不适的需要来解释生命，那么你就会曲解生命，你会试图利用生命来加强你的自我重要性，这就拒绝了你对生命的接触，使你在其中的参与变得不相干和具有破坏性。

Underneath pride is a sense of despair, a sense of despair that cannot yet be faced, and so there is an attempt to run from it, to build something over it, to build a wonderful and beautiful expressive life over an inner reality that is in disrepair and is inherently alone and sad. Observe the desire for pride in yourself. See how it feels to take great pride in yourself or in your accomplishments. See how long this lasts and what it really feels like. Does it give you a sense of inclusion in the world? Does it give you a sense of peace? Does it give you greater equanimity? Or is it a momentary experience of self-inflation which will soon be replaced by the fervent need to reassert yourself in a different set of circumstances? For all that has been devoted to this pursuit and for all that has been invested in it, how much and how great is its reward?

在骄傲之下是一种绝望感，这种绝望感还无法面对，因此人们试图逃避它，在它之上建立一些活动，建造一个美好而精彩的生活，以掩盖内心破损、孤独和悲伤的现实。观察自己对骄傲的渴望。看看自己或对自己的成就感到非常自豪是什么感觉。看看这能持续多长时间，以及它的真实感觉是什么。它是否给你一种融入世界的感觉？它是否给你一种和平的感觉？它是否给你更大的平和心境？或者它是一种自我膨胀的短暂经历，很快就会在不同环境下重新证明自己的热切需要所取代？对于为这一追求所付出的一切，以及为这一追求所投入的一切，其回报究竟有多大？

Self-importance is a critical error because it denies the source of your expression. It denies the source of your meaning and purpose in the world. It says that you are the source of your creations. Yet, if the real source of your creations disavowed you or pulled away from you, you would be truly empty and truly impoverished. What self-importance is there then?

自我重要感是一个严重的错误，因为它否认了你表达的来源。它否认了你在世界上的意义和目的的来源。它说你是自己创造的源泉。然而，如果你真实的创造来源否认你或远离你，你将会真正感到空虚和贫困。那么，所谓的自我重要感还有什么意义呢？

All great contributors in all fields and endeavors must at some point come to terms with the reality and the fact that what they are giving comes from beyond them, that they themselves are a medium, a messenger and a provider for something greater from beyond themselves. This is the reality of their creativity. This is the reality of their desire to give. This is the source and meaning of their contributions, whatever they may be. This is what gives these contributions value and what enables them to be inspiring to others.

所有领域和事业中的伟大贡献者在某个时刻必须接受这样一个事实：他们所给予的东西来自于他们自身之外，他们自己只是一个媒介、一个使者和一个提供者，为超越自我的更大现实服务。这是他们创造力的现实。这是他们渴望给予的现实。这是他们贡献的来源和意义，无论这些贡献是什么。这就是赋予这些贡献价值的原因，也是使他们能够激励他人的原因。

But, of course, with pride this is all lost. There is no recognition of the source of your meaning and your value. There is no recognition of the power and the grace that can express itself through you. There are only moments of self-aggrandizement followed by great periods of fearfulness, suspicion, anxiety and conflict.

但是，当然，由于骄傲，这一切都失去了。没有人认识到你的意义和价值的来源。没有人认识到能够通过你表达自己的力量和恩典。只有自我陶醉的时刻，随后是恐惧、怀疑、焦虑和冲突的巨大时期。

Yes, you must practice and develop your skills. You must work very hard, and you must rise above the mediocrity that you see around you. But this is only so that you can become a vehicle for a Greater Reality to express itself through you. In this there is real accomplishment. In this there is no pride because when you are in relationship with a Greater Reality, you realize you are but the vehicle for its expression, and you value yourself for this. You do not claim responsibility for its power and its intelligence. You give. You do not claim the glory. What glory is there in giving except the satisfaction of giving itself? If the world honors you and esteems you and even glorifies you, which it does for some people momentarily, what meaning is there in this? A moment of glory for a lifetime of contribution.

是的，你必须练习和发展你的技能。你必须非常努力地工作，你必须超越你周围看到的平庸。但这只是为了使你能够成为一个更大的现实通过你来表达自己的载体。在这一点上，有真正的成就。在这一点上没有骄傲，因为当你与一个更大的现实发生关系时，你意识到你只是它表达的载体，你为此而珍惜自己。你不要求对它的力量和智慧负责。你给予。你不要求荣耀。除了给予本身的满足，给予有什么荣耀呢？如果世界尊敬你，尊重你，甚至荣耀你，对某些人来说，它确实是一时的，这有什么意义呢？一时的荣耀换来的是一生的贡献。

There are many creative people in the world who have potential for expressing something of real meaning and value but who suffer greatly because they cannot see that they are but the means for expressing something greater. They believe that they are the source. They feel that they must control their own expression and determine where it is to be given, to whom and for what purpose. They must control the results. They must control the whole process. They must be the authors of their own creations. For this they suffer without seeming limit or end. And their ability and potential are greatly stifled by and wasted upon a self-absorbed approach that can only lead to frustration and disappointment. And so there is this constant attempt to assert oneself, to establish one’s value, to declare one’s purpose, to gain recognition and even adulation.

世界上有许多有创造力的人，他们有表达真正意义和价值的潜力，但他们因为无法看到他们只是表达更伟大内识的载体而深受折磨。他们相信他们自己是源头。他们觉得他们必须控制自己的表达，并决定将其给予何人，以及出于何种目的。他们必须控制结果。他们必须控制整个过程。他们必须成为自己创作的作者。为此，他们遭受着无休止的痛苦。他们的能力和潜力因为这种自我吸收的方式而大大受到压抑和浪费，这种方式只会导致挫折和失望。因此，他们不断试图彰显自我，确立自己的价值，宣告自己的目的，获得认可甚至崇拜。

This is not the way of Knowledge. It is not the way of happiness, and it is not what the world needs. You do not need recognition from the world. You need to experience the value of your own giving and the meaning of your own work. These can only be recognized when you see that you are the vehicle for something greater, something that loves the world but which is beyond definition, beyond words and even beyond understanding. You do not need to understand the Greater Reality to feel it, to enter into relationship with it, to be part of it and to reclaim the Ancient Heritage which is yours and the power which has been given to you through Knowledge. Let those who cannot be in relationship with life try to understand it. They will not. And their ideas, no matter how seemingly intellectual or perfectly ordered, will not encompass the experience of the Greater Reality of which they themselves are an intrinsic part.

这不是内识的方式。这不是幸福的方式，也不是世界所需要的。你不需要来自世界的认可。你需要经历你自己给予的价值和你自己工作的意义。只有当你看到你是更伟大内识的载体时，这些才能得到认可，内识爱着这个世界，但它超越了定义，超越了语言，甚至超越了理解。你不需要理解更大的现实来感受它，与它建立关系，成为它的一部分，并重新获得属于你的古老遗产和通过内识给予你的力量。让那些不能与生命发生关系的人尝试去理解它。他们不会的。而他们的想法，无论看起来多么聪明或完美有序，都不会包含对更大的现实的经历，而他们自己就是其中内在的一部分。

For you who are considering becoming a real student of Knowledge, and for you who have begun the great reclamation of Knowledge according to the preparation that we have provided, you must realize that self-importance is a weakness and a liability. It is not simply the behavior that is associated with it that is the problem. It is the lack of foundation that this behavior expresses.

对于正在考虑成为内识的真正学生的你，对于根据我们提供的准备开始内识的伟大开垦的你，你必须认识到，自视甚高是一个弱点和一种负担。问题不只是与之相关的行为。而是这种行为所表达的基础的缺乏。

In becoming a student of Knowledge, you begin to reclaim, slowly and significantly, a real foundation in life. This does not happen all at once. It is not simply an answer or an explanation or something you tell yourself. It does not excuse you from the difficulties of life. It does not raise you above everyone else. It is not about self-importance. Instead, it builds a foundation for certainty—certainty within yourself and certainty within your relationship with life. Over time this certainty begins to permeate all of your thinking and activities, and as it does so, you become stronger and more complete. What need is there then to assert and to prove yourself when this foundation has been established? Indeed, you will see that the pursuit of self-importance takes you away from your foundation, blinds you to your inclusion in life, turns you away from the source of your Wisdom and creativity and places you alone in a seemingly hostile universe, in competition with everyone else who is attempting to assert themselves and to step in line in front of you to compete with you for the world’s recognition and rewards.

在成为内识的学生时，你开始慢慢地、显著地重新获得生命中的真正基础。这并不是一下子就能做到的。它不是简单的答案、解释或你告诉自己的东西。它不会成为你逃避生活困难的借口。它不会使你超越其他人。它不是关于自我的重要性。相反，它为确定性建立了一个基础——对自己的确定性和对你与生命的关系的确定性。随着时间的推移，这种确定性开始渗透到你所有的思维和活动中，当它这样做时，你会变得更强大、更完整。那么，当这个基础已经建立起来时，还有什么必要去主张和证明自己呢？事实上，你会看到，对自我重要性的追求使你远离你的基础，使你看不到你在生命中的包容性，使你远离你的智慧和创造力的源泉，使你在一个似乎充满敌意的宇宙中孤独地与其他所有人竞争，这些人正试图坚持自己，在你面前排队，与你争夺世界的认可和奖励。

Turn away from self-importance. Your personal mind will never be significant in the universe. Do not give it this importance. It is not an honor for you or for life. Your personal mind is but a part of the means for expressing a Greater Reality in a temporary reality, for expressing the Knowledge of the universe in the unique opportunity you have to live in the world.

远离自我重要性。你的个人心智在宇宙中永远不会有意义。不要赋予它这种重要性。它不是你或生命的荣誉。你的个人心智不过是在暂时的现实中表达更大现实的手段的一部分，是在你生活在这个世界上的独特机会中表达宇宙的内识。

It could be said that there are two things in life that you will see: There is Knowledge and there is self-importance. You will see that without Knowledge people need to be self-important because they feel they are nothing, have nothing and are associated with nothing. And so they associate themselves with their ideas, they develop their relationships in order to support their ideas, and they fortify themselves against loss by desiring money and power, influence and recognition. But no matter how much they acquire or how successful they might be temporarily, underneath all of this is a tremendous sense of emptiness and loss. They are not connected to Knowledge. Yes, they may use intuition here and there, but that does not represent that they have a relationship with Knowledge.

可以说，在生命中有两件事情你会看到。一种是内识，一种是自我重要性。你会看到，没有内识的人需要自视甚高，因为他们觉得自己什么都不是，什么都没有，什么都与之有关。因此，他们把自己与他们的想法联系起来，他们发展他们的关系以支持他们的想法，他们通过渴望金钱和权力、影响和认可来强化自己以避免损失。但是，无论他们获得了多少，或者他们暂时有多大的成功，在这一切的背后是巨大的空虚和损失感。他们与内识没有联系。是的，他们可能在这里和那里使用直觉，但这并不代表他们与内识有关系。

Those individuals who seem more powerful, more grand, more significant, more influential, more beautiful or more handsome than you—consider what you are seeing. Without Knowledge, there are no other advantages in life. Without Knowledge, you will not have a foundation. Steps to Knowledge is the means for building a foundation upon which you can live a meaningful life. Without this foundation, you are at sea. Your life is built on quicksand. Anything that you establish can easily be torn down. You are a victim of the world and the forces in the world. You are competing against everyone and everything. You are competing against yourself. Your mind is constantly in conflict. Success and failure are your concern, not contribution.

那些看起来比你更强大、更气派、更重要、更有影响力、更漂亮或更英俊的人——考虑一下你看到的是什么。没有内识，生命中就没有其他优势。没有内识，你就不会有基础。获得内识的步骤是建立一个基础的手段，在这个基础上你可以过上有意义的生命。没有这个基础，你就会陷入困境。你的生命是建立在流沙上。你所建立的任何东西都很容易被拆毁。你是这个世界和世界上各种力量的受害者。你在与所有人和所有事物竞争。你在与自己竞争。你的心灵不断处于冲突之中。成功和失败是你关心的，而不是贡献。

Into this seemingly hopeless situation come the gift of Knowledge and The Greater Community Way of Knowledge. While people around you are reinforcing their need for self-importance and their investment in their self-importance, you have a greater possibility. You have the gift of freedom to enable you to escape a pursuit that can never be successful. You can never be important enough. You can never be rich enough or famous enough or pretty enough to offset the lack of a foundation within yourself. Without a relationship with the Greater Power that is clearly and properly understood, and without being in a position to give in life, you are at a profound disadvantage, whether you are rich or poor, handsome or not, magnificent or simple. No matter what your station in life, no matter what your appearance to others, without Knowledge you are weak and vulnerable.

在这种看似无望的情况下，内识的礼物和大社区内识之路的出现。当你周围的人在加强他们对自我重要性的需求和对自我重要性的投资时，你有更大的可能性。你有自由的礼物，使你能够摆脱一种永远无法成功的追求。你永远不可能足够重要。你永远不可能有足够的财富、足够的名气或足够的美貌来抵消你内心基础的缺失。如果没有与更伟大的力量建立明确和正确的关系，没有在生命中给予存在的位置，你就会处于极度不利的位置，无论你是富有还是贫穷，英俊还是不英俊，华丽还是简单。无论你在生命中的位置如何，无论你在别人眼里是什么样子，没有内识，你就是软弱无力的。

But take heart. Knowledge has not left you. It has not gone away. You cannot rid yourself of it, and it will never leave you. It is waiting to be discovered, a living reality within you that confirms your meaning and purpose for coming into the world at this time. It confirms your relationship with your Spiritual Family beyond the world, and it confirms your relationship with the world, for you have come to the world to give. What difference does it make if you are important or not as long as your mission in life can be furthered and accomplished? When you leave this life and return to your Spiritual Family, you will not be interested at all in what you became in the world or what people thought of you there. The only thing that will concern you is whether you accomplished your task or not. That is all that matters. And your task will always involve the reclamation of relationships and the expression of Knowledge—no matter what your form of expression or the avenue of life that you participate in.

但请放心。内识并没有离开你。它没有消失。你无法摆脱它，它也永远不会离开你。它在等待被发现，它是你内心的一个活生生的现实，证实了你此时来到世界的意义和目的。它证实了你与世界之外的精神家庭的关系，它也证实了你与世界的关系，因为你来到世界是为了给予。只要你的人生使命能够得到进一步的发展和完成，你是否重要又有什么区别呢？当你离开这个生命，回到你的精神家庭时，你将对你在这个世界上成为什么或人们在那里对你的看法完全不感兴趣。唯一与你有关的事情是你是否完成了你的任务。这是最重要的。而你的任务总是涉及到关系的恢复和内识的表达——无论你的表达形式或你参与的生命途径是什么。

Find escape from self-importance. Be one of the few who finds an open door away from this hopeless involvement. It is a blessing that your life in the world is temporary. The reason it is temporary is that you have come here to give something, and you do not want to linger too long. It is good that it is temporary because being in physical life is very cumbersome and very complicated. It is difficult. Taking care of a physical body, taking care of all the things you own, taking care of your relationships—all require a great deal of effort.

从自我重要性中找到解脱。成为少数能找到一扇敞开的门，远离这种无望的参与的人之一。你在世上的生命是暂时的，这是一种祝福。它之所以是暂时的，是因为你来这里是为了给予一些东西，而你不想逗留太久。它是暂时的是好的，因为在物质生命中是非常麻烦和非常复杂的。这很困难。照顾身体，照顾你拥有的所有东西，照顾你的关系——都需要大量的努力。

Therefore, you are given the relief of being able to go back to your Spiritual Family. Your tour of duty here is limited, but you can only appreciate what this means as you come to know and to experience that you have a greater reality beyond the world, a reality that gives meaning and purpose to your being here now. This is not merely a self-comforting idea. This is the fundamental truth of your life.

因此，你得到了能够回到你精神家庭的解脱。你在这里的任务是有限的，但你只能体会到这意味着什么，因为你知道并经历到你有一个超越世界的更大的现实，一个赋予你现在存在的意义和目的的现实。这不仅仅是一个自我安慰的想法。这是你生命的基本真理。

You see, the world cannot give you meaning, and it cannot give you your purpose. What the world can do is ignite the purpose you have brought with you, that is within you already. The world provides the need, not the answer. You have the answer. The world pulls the answer out of you because of its great needs. That is why coming to the world to do anything but work is absolutely foolish. What else can the world offer you? Yes, it has beautiful places and it offers some wonderful momentary pleasures, but it is not worth the journey here unless you can get something done. Considering where you have come from and where you will return to, this is most certainly true.

你看，世界不能给你意义，也不能给你目的。世界能做的是点燃你带来的目的，那是在你内心深处已经存在的。世界提供的是需求，而不是答案。你有答案。世界把答案从你身上拉出来，因为它有巨大的需求。这就是为什么来到世界上除了工作之外做任何事情都是绝对愚蠢的。这个世界还能给你什么？是的，它有美丽的地方，它提供一些美妙的短暂的快乐，但除非你能完成一些事情，否则不值得来这里旅行。考虑到你从哪里来，将回到哪里去，这当然是真的。

Now, when you ask about finding greater purpose in life and whether you are going to have relationships and how you are going to improve your circumstances, it is very important to consider—since everyone has these questions to one degree or another—why you are asking these questions. What is it you really want? What is the motive behind asking these kinds of questions, which are very fundamental and important questions. What is your motive in asking them?

现在，当你问及在生命中寻找更伟大的目的，以及你是否会有关系，以及你如何改善你的环境时，非常重要的是要考虑——因为每个人在某种程度上都有这些问题，你为什么要问这些问题。你真正想要的东西是什么？提出这类问题的动机是什么，这是非常根本和重要的问题。你问这些问题的动机是什么？

Knowledge will transform your life. Is this what you want? Or do you simply want to fortify your current position and add to your list of advantages? Do you want to become safer and richer and more imbued with wonderful abilities and more recognized and more valued? What is your motive?

内识将改变你的生命。这是你想要的吗？还是你只是想巩固你目前的位置，为你的优势清单添砖加瓦？你想变得更安全、更富有、更具有奇妙的能力、更被认可、更受重视吗？你的动机是什么？

When you ask Knowledge to do something for you, you must realize that Knowledge will give you what it needs for you to have, not what you want from it. Yes, you will want certain things, but understand that Knowledge will transform you. This will not guarantee that you will have any of the specific things that you may want. Yes, you can use your mental power to get things in life. Yes, you can commit yourself to acquisition—the acquisition of objects, the acquisition of people, the acquisition of ideas, the acquisition of truths—it is all acquisition. The acquisition of truths can be as selfish and self-indulgent as acquiring money. If it is for pride and self-importance, it will have the same result and the same disqualifying aspects, preventing you from gaining access to your life and its real meaning and purpose, which is where all the satisfaction in life is. Everything you own, everyone you associate with and everything you do can ultimately only serve the purpose of bringing you this greater understanding and this greater commitment to give to the world. In this, the world serves you by disappointing you, even more than by giving you the things you want. It gives you another chance to see if you want self-importance or if you want to live a life of Knowledge.

当你要求内识为你做某事时，你必须意识到，内识会给你它需要你拥有的东西，而不是你想从它那里得到什么。是的，你会想要某些东西，但要明白，内识会改造你。这不会保证你会拥有你可能想要的任何特定的东西。是的，你可以用你的心理能力来获得生活中的东西。是的，你可以致力于获取——获取物体、获取人、获取想法、获取真理——这都是获取。对真理的获取可以像获取金钱一样自私和自我放纵。如果是为了骄傲和自大，它将有同样的结果和同样的不合格方面，阻止你获得你的生命和它的真正意义和目的，这就是生命中所有的满足。你所拥有的一切，与你交往的每一个人，以及你所做的一切，最终只能服务于为你带来这种更伟大的理解和这种更伟大的承诺，以给予这个世界。在这一点上，世界通过让你失望来为你服务，甚至比给你你想要的东西更多。它给了你另一个机会，让你看看你是想要自我价值，还是想要过一种内识的生命。

Let us give this very great idea from the Greater Community for you to consider. This is a truth that advanced races in the Greater Community have come to realize through life’s experience. Because it is a universal truth, it means that it is applicable everywhere. It is a truth that transcends race, culture, temperament and nature. It is true everywhere, whether you are a human being, or whether you are something else. The truth is this: The Wise remain hidden to remain wise. We recommend that you contemplate this idea, but do not be satisfied with your first conclusions. You must go far beyond them to reach the real meaning of this idea. This idea is so important if you can consider it and stay with it long enough because it teaches you about yourself, about the nature of your real ability, about the role of Knowledge and about the reality of the world. Only a person who can penetrate this idea will gain these great results.

让我们给出这个来自大社区的非常伟大的想法供你考虑。这是大社区的先进种族通过生活经历认识到的一个真理。因为它是一个普遍的真理，这意味着它适用于所有地方。它是一个超越种族、文化、气质和自然的真理。它在任何地方都是真实的，无论你是一个人，还是其他什么生命。真理就是这样。智者保持隐匿以保持智慧。我们建议你思考这个想法，但不要满足于你的第一个结论。你必须远远超越它们，以达到这个想法的真正含义。如果你能考虑它，并在它面前停留足够长的时间，这个想法是如此重要，因为它教你了解自己，了解你真正能力的性质，了解内识的作用，了解世界的现实。只有能够穿透这个想法的人，才能获得这些伟大的成果。

Right away you can see that if you are driven by the need to assert yourself and to proclaim and establish yourself, then there is a problem in your approach to Knowledge. With Knowledge, the more powerful you are, the more you conceal your power. With Knowledge, the more influential you are, the more careful you are where this influence is expressed. With Knowledge, you are only given to communicate to certain people for certain purposes. With Knowledge, you are hidden in the world because the world cannot yet accept Knowledge wholeheartedly.

马上你就可以看到，如果你被宣扬自己、宣扬和建立自己的需要所驱使，那么你对内识的态度就有问题。有了内识，你越是强大，你就越是隐藏自己的力量。有了内识，你的影响力越大，你就越要注意这种影响力的表达方式。有了内识，你只被赋予与某些人沟通的权利，以达到某些目的。有了内识，你就隐藏在世界中，因为世界还不能全心全意地接受内识。

Those who are strong with Knowledge will always guard their gifts and be very discerning where they can be given, how they should be expressed, and so forth. This is Wisdom. This is learning how to get things done in the world, which is what Wisdom is about. Wisdom is also about how to be in the world because being in the world and getting things done are the same.

那些拥有内识的强者会一直保护他们的礼物，并对他们可以被赋予的地方、他们应该如何表达等等有很好的辨别力。这就是智慧。这是学习如何在这个世界上完成事情，这就是智慧的意义。智慧也是关于如何在这个世界上生存，因为在这个世界上生存和把事情做好是一样的。

If you were a man or woman of Knowledge and you did not exercise this Wisdom, the world would attempt to use you for its own purposes. People would use you for this or for that. They would associate with you to try to take from you that which you have. They would try to employ you for their purposes. They would drain you of your ability and your energy. They would rely on you and feed off of you and attempt to manipulate you. And when they realized they could not get any more from you, they would either discard you or attempt to destroy you. This is not because people are evil. It is simply because they do not yet have the ability to receive Knowledge directly. When you cannot receive something directly, it must be given to you indirectly. You yourself cannot yet receive Knowledge directly. You have to receive it incrementally, very slowly. Knowledge has to be applied and demonstrated to you.

如果你是一个有内识的男人或女人，而你没有行使这种智慧，世界会试图利用你来达到自己的目的。人们会为了这个或那个而利用你。他们会与你交往，试图从你身上夺取你所拥有的东西。他们会试图为他们的目的雇用你。他们会消耗你的能力和能量。他们会依赖你，以你为食，试图操纵你。当他们意识到他们无法从你身上得到更多时，他们会抛弃你或试图摧毁你。这并不是因为人们是邪恶的。这只是因为他们还没有直接接受内识的能力。当你不能直接接受某样东西时，它必须被间接地给予你。你自己还不能直接接受内识。你必须渐渐地、非常缓慢地接受它。内识必须被应用和展示给你。

The Greater Power in the universe is wise. It does not give things to people beyond their capacity, so the focus is to develop people’s capacity, desire and understanding. This is what Steps to Knowledge is for. This is what my words are for. They are not to fuel your self-assertion. They are not to make you richer, more grand, more beautiful or more exquisite in life, for these only jeopardize you and make you fall prey to the madness of the world.

宇宙中更大的力量是明智的。它不会给人们超出其能力的东西，所以重点是发展人们的能力、渴望和理解力。这就是《内识的阶梯》的作用。这就是我的话的目的。它们不是为了助长你的自我主张。它们不是为了使你在生命中更富有、更宏伟、更美丽或更精致，因为这些只会危害你，使你成为世界疯狂的牺牲品。

The Wise remain hidden to remain wise. What are the prospects for self-importance here? The more powerful you become, the more you have to conceal it. The more complete you become, the greater your influence on others and the more careful you have to be.

智者为保持智慧而隐匿。在这里，自大的前景是什么？你越是强大，你就越是要隐藏它。你变得越完整，你对他人的影响就越大，你就越要小心。

With Knowledge and Wisdom, there comes a natural reticence to be part of anyone’s need for self-importance. And there is a reticence to give yourself to your own self-importance because you see it as an enemy of your true pursuit. You do not repudiate self-importance. It is not morally unjust. Instead, it is seen as something that works against you, and you do not want to support it either within yourself or with others. Likewise, you do not want others to use you to bolster their self-importance, which is so often the motive in people’s personal relationships.

有了内识和智慧，自然就会对任何人对自我重要性的需求有所顾忌。也有一种不愿意把自己交给自己的自负，因为你认为它是你真正追求的敌人。你并不排斥自我重要性。它在道德上不是不公正的。相反，它被看作是对你不利的东西，你不想在自己和别人之间支持它。同样，你也不希望别人利用你来支持他们的自负，这在人们的个人关系中经常是这样的动机。

The Wise also remain hidden so they will not abuse or misuse their abilities. It is a safeguard for them and for others. If you seek to become a man or woman of Knowledge in order to become more magnificent, more powerful, more recognized or more beautiful—in other words, if you want to become a man or woman of Knowledge to assert your self-importance—then your learning process will be one of disappointment and disillusionment because you must be freed and separated from your incorrect thinking and your inappropriate motives.

智者也保持隐蔽，以便他们不会滥用或误用他们的能力。这是对他们和其他人的一种保障。如果你寻求成为内识的男人或女人，以便变得更值得赞扬、更强大、更被认可或更美丽——换句话说，如果你想成为内识的男人或女人，以宣扬你的自我重要性，那么你的学习过程将是一个失望和幻灭的过程，因为你必须从你不正确的思维和不适当的动机中解脱出来。

Knowledge will not abide with you unless you are sincere. Knowledge is not simply a power that you can tap into and use, as people so often think. It is an intelligence. You cannot simply get to it and use it as if it were an oil well. It is intelligent. It is smart. It is wise. And it is compassionate. It knows the way to you. Become receptive to it. Let it emerge within you. Take the steps to it, the steps to Knowledge. Do not alter them. Do not try to make your own way. You do not know how to get to Knowledge, but Knowledge can bring you to itself, and that is the way. Relieve yourself of the constant burden of asserting yourself and establishing yourself. Then and only then will you see what real freedom means.

除非你是真诚的，否则内识不会与你同在。内识并不像人们常想的那样，只是一种你可以挖掘和使用的力量。它是一种智能。你不能简单地进入它并像使用油井一样使用它。它是智慧的。它是聪明的。它是明智的。而且它是有同情心的。它知道通往你的路。成为它的接受者。让它在你体内出现。采取通往它的步骤，通往内识的阶梯。不要改变它们。不要试图开辟你自己的道路。你不知道如何到达内识，但内识可以把你带到它的身边，这就是方法。把你自己从宣称自己和建立自己的持续负担中解脱出来。然后，也只有这样，你才能看到真正的自由意味着什么。

Now let us talk about something else that will perhaps give you a clearer idea of what I am saying. I have said that people try to assert themselves, establish themselves and make themselves more important because they feel a deficiency or a lack within themselves. This is obvious. But what is not obvious is that when you try to compensate for your lack or deficiency, they become stronger. When you try to compensate for your weakness, your weakness is confirmed. As you persist, you will become even more disassociated from yourself. You will start to believe that you are really important. You will start to believe that you are all these things that you are trying to be. But underneath is the reality that you feel weak, deficient and alone. Not only has the error not been corrected, it has been overlaid with a gigantic falsification of your life. Now you are doubly removed from yourself. Now the means for the reclamation of Knowledge within you becomes even more difficult to find and to accept.

现在让我们谈谈其他的事情，也许会让你更清楚地了解我所说的内容。我已经说过，人们试图坚持自己，建立自己，使自己更重要，因为他们觉得自己内心有缺陷或缺乏。这是很明显的。但不明显的是，当你试图弥补你的缺乏或不足时，它们会变得更强大。当你试图弥补你的弱点时，你的弱点就被证实了。随着你的坚持，你会变得与自己更加不相干。你会开始相信，你真的很重要。你会开始相信，你是所有这些你想成为的人。但在这之下的现实是，你感到软弱、不足和孤独。这个错误不仅没有被纠正，还被叠加了对你的生命的极大伪造。现在你加倍地远离了自己。现在，在你体内开垦内识的手段变得更加难以找到和接受。

Face your emptiness rather than compensate for it. Face your sense of weakness instead of constantly trying to prove it is not true. Face your sense of isolation and loneliness instead of convincing yourself that they do not exist. You face these things in The Way of Knowledge because you must pass through them and go beyond them. They are standing in your way. You must face them. You may say to yourself, “Well, I am really a wonderful person,” but this may not be how you really feel inside. Then you will try to use The Way of Knowledge to prove that you are a wonderful person. You may even think that Knowledge is proving that. But there is a fundamental error, and you have to go back to where the error is made. You start from where you are, not from where you want to be.

面对你的空虚，而不是对它进行补偿。面对你的软弱感，而不是不断试图证明它不是真的。面对你的孤立感和孤独感，而不是说服自己它们不存在。你在内识之路中面对这些事情，因为你必须穿过它们，超越它们。它们挡住了你的路。你必须面对它们。你可能会对自己说：”嗯，我真的是一个很好的人。”但这可能不是你内心的真实感受。然后你会试图用内识之路来证明你是一个了不起的人。你甚至可能认为，内识正在证明这一点。但是有一个根本性的错误，你必须回到错误发生的地方。你从你所在的地方开始，而不是从你想成为的地方开始。

Becoming honest means that you accept things as they are right now. You accept them not because they are ultimately true but because they represent your starting point. You cannot start the journey from where you want to be. You cannot be at the end of the journey while you are at the beginning. You cannot be at the top of the mountain when you are really at the bottom. When you are at the bottom, be at the bottom! Do not falsify the situation by saying that the mountain isn’t important or that it is no problem for you to climb it or that you will climb it some other day because you have more important things to do. Do not falsify the situation. Real effort in life is expended because people recognize a need that has to be fulfilled.

变得诚实意味着你接受事物现在的样子。你接受它们不是因为它们最终是真实的，而是因为它们代表了你的起点。你不能从你想去的地方开始旅程。你不可能在旅程的终点，而你却在起点。当你真正处于山脚时，你不能处于山顶。当你在山底时，就在山底！不要伪造情况。不要捏造情况，说这座山不重要，或者说爬山对你来说没有问题，或者说你改天再爬，因为你有更重要的事情要做。不要捏造情况。生命中真正的努力是由于人们认识到了必须满足的需要而花费的。

The Way of Knowledge fulfills a need. It fulfills an inner need to find purpose, meaning and direction in life. And it fulfills an outer need for your contribution to be given because the world needs it. The world needs it in all walks of life. It needs it in every aspect of its existence.

内识之路满足了一种需求。它满足了人们在生命中寻找目的、意义和方向的内在需求。它满足了一种外在的需要，即你要做出贡献，因为世界需要它。世界在各行各业都需要它。它在其存在的各个方面都需要它。

Those who are meaningfully engaged with the world are freed from the attempt to prove themselves. They are simply doing what they have to do. They can afford to be honest. They can afford to face themselves. They can afford to relax. They can afford to enjoy life. They can afford to dedicate themselves. To them, commitment is not a loss. It is the beginning of reality. To them, commitment is not a relinquishment. It is an opportunity to finally engage with life, not on their own terms but according to Knowledge within them. With Knowledge, they have a firm foundation within themselves and in the world. With a firm foundation, they do not continuously have to prove themselves and to establish their self-importance.

那些有意义地与世界打交道的人，摆脱了证明自己的企图。他们只是在做他们必须做的事情。他们能够承受诚实。他们有能力面对自己。他们能承受得起放松。他们能负担得起享受生活。他们能负担得起奉献自己。对他们来说，承诺不是一种损失。它是现实的开始。对他们来说，承诺不是一种放弃。它是一个最终参与生命的机会，不是根据他们自己的条件，而是根据他们内心的内识。有了内识，他们在自己和世界中就有了坚实的基础。有了坚实的基础，他们就不需要不断地证明自己和建立自己的自我重要性。

The escape from self-importance is a freedom of unparalleled value. You begin to move towards this freedom in The Way of Knowledge because The Way of Knowledge is not about you. The Way of Knowledge is about life, your place in life and your contribution to life. Your reality is established beyond the world, so you do not need to establish it here. You did not create yourself. You only interpret yourself. But a Greater Power can create through you, and if you are not lost and bound to the need for self-importance, then you can be available and receptive to this Greater Power, which will affirm your true identity and your real meaning in the world at this time. Beyond this, your needs are simple, and you need not suffer over them. Beyond this, you work for accomplishment and for contribution, and this takes all of your energy. You do not have time to suffer over yourself. You do not have time to worry about who you are, for in this situation you are giving yourself appropriately. Learning how to do this is a great enough challenge.

摆脱自负是一种具有无可比拟价值的自由。你在内识之路中开始走向这种自由，因为内识之路不是关于你。内识之路是关于生命、你在生命中的位置和你对生命的贡献。你的现实是在世界之外建立的，所以你不需要在这里建立它。你并没有创造你自己。你只是解释你自己。但是，一个更大的力量可以通过你来创造，如果你不迷失，不被自我重要性的需要所束缚，那么你就可以得到并接受这个更大的力量，这将肯定你的真实身份和你此时在这个世界上的真实意义。除此以外，你的需求很简单，你不需要为它们受苦。除此之外，你为成就和贡献而工作，这需要你所有的能量。你没有时间为自己受苦。你没有时间担心你是谁，因为在这种情况下，你正在适当地给予自己。学习如何做到这一点是一个足够大的挑战。

Open yourself to a Greater Reality. Become a vehicle for its expression, even in the most mundane circumstances. Give up the need for recognition. You do not really want it. You only need to be recognized by a few people in life. That is necessary. Beyond that, it is better to be unknown and mysterious. Don’t show off! When you do this, it reinforces the idea that your life is meaningless and that you have no intrinsic value. Learn to listen and be observant. Become still, and you will see what I am saying. It is so obvious if you stop and look. If you do not judge or condemn yourself or others, you will begin to see. You will see that people are lost within themselves. You will see that they are bound by motives that are desperate and compensatory. Do not ever condemn someone for this because this is the condition of the world. But be grateful that the possibility of escape has been given to you and that you have an opportunity to share this and its great results and rewards with others.

向更大的现实开放自己。成为其表达的载体，即使是在最平凡的情况下。放弃对认可的需求。你并不真正想要它。你只需要被生活中的少数人认可。那是必要的。除此以外，最好是不为人知的、神秘的。不要炫耀!当你这样做时，会强化你的生命毫无意义，你没有内在价值的想法。要学会倾听和观察。变得静止，你就会看到我所说的。如果你停下来看看，它是如此明显。如果你不判断或谴责自己或他人，你就会开始看到。你会看到人们在自己的内心迷失。你会看到他们被绝望的和补偿性的动机所束缚。千万不要因此而谴责别人，因为这就是世界的状况。但要感激的是，逃脱的可能性已经给了你，你有机会与他人分享这一点及其巨大的结果和回报。

Your prayers have been answered because The Greater Community Way of Knowledge has been given to you. This is a real answer. The real answer is true assistance and the means of preparation, both within the world and beyond. You are now given a way out of your own self-absorption and a way into the world so that you can accomplish what you came here to accomplish with a minimum of stress and misunderstanding.

你的祈祷得到了回应，因为大社区内识之路已经给了你。这是一个真正的答案。真正的答案是真正的援助和准备的手段，无论是在世界范围内还是在世界范围外。你现在得到了一条走出自我陶醉的道路，以及一条进入世界的道路，这样你就可以在最小的压力和误解下完成你来到这里要完成的事情。

Over time, as you become engaged in your true activity in life and become mature enough to engage yourself in it wholeheartedly, you will feel the presence of your Spiritual Family with you. You will feel the abiding presence of Knowledge guiding you. You will feel that you have a destiny and that that destiny is assured. And you will not need to be self-important, for you will not feel weak, vulnerable and worthless. You will have work to reclaim Knowledge, you will have work to rectify the imbalances and the falsities of your own life, and you will have work to assist others. But you can give yourself to this. You cannot hate yourself and undertake the Path of Knowledge because you must love yourself enough to be able to undertake this great journey.

随着时间的推移，当你参与到你真实的生命活动中，并变得足够成熟，全心全意地投入其中，你会感觉到你的精神家庭与你同在。你会感觉到内识的持久存在在指导你。你将感觉到你有一个命运，而且这个命运是有保证的。而且你将不需要自视甚高，因为你不会感到软弱、脆弱和无价值。你将有工作来重新获得内识，你将有工作来纠正你自己生命中的不平衡和虚假，你将有工作来帮助他人。但你可以为此付出自己的努力。你不能憎恨自己，承担内识之路，因为你必须足够爱自己，才能够承担这个伟大的旅程。

Do not value pride. Uncover it. Let disappointment and even disgrace help you come to terms with your true nature in life. Have no idols. Even the man and woman of Knowledge are not idols. They are people from different walks of life who have made a courageous and vital decision amidst often very difficult circumstances. Value their example and let their rewards be an encouragement for you that there is a greater purpose in life, a greater meaning for being here and a greater opportunity to give that which needs to be given.

不要重视傲慢。揭开它。让失望甚至耻辱帮助你认清你在生命中的真实本性。不要有偶像。即使是内识的男人和女人也不是偶像。他们是来自各行各业的人，在往往非常困难的情况下做出了勇敢和重要的决定。珍视他们的榜样，让他们的回报成为对你的鼓励，让你知道生命中有更伟大的目的，在这里有更大的意义，有更大的机会去给予需要给予的东西。